Notes from My Nest: Ready to Move

We are into our final week here at Mere Point and the packing has begun. While I have removed our name from the mailbox I am still feeding and counting birds. It has been hazy, hot, and humid around here for the past week or so, which makes it hard to sit outside since there is no porch here. The mornings are damp with dew and by the time the sun burns the damp off the table it is too hot to sit outside. Still, I watch the birds from inside while I move about the house, cleaning and packing. It has been a long time since I have had to pack myself and move. I must admit that I am spoiled in this regards as my husband’s company usually sends packers and movers to do it all for us. But this is not a company move and we have to do it ourselves. Thankfully I have great kids who live nearby and are willing to help. We have rented a truck for the day and hope it will take just one load to go from here to there.

I must admit that I hate clutter, and so most of my energy so far has been focused on the basement where I do not have to look at the boxes and bins I have packed. But it can’t stay like this forever and with only one week to go, I have moved the packing to upstairs.

These are the bins we have already packed.

 

These are the boxes waiting to be filled! Breezy Boy is not concerned at all, as you can see! All those books have to come off the shelves, go into boxes, and come back out again. My daughter and I took all the artwork down earlier this week and packed it away for 9 months. We are in a unique situation as we will be renting someone’s summer home for only 9 months, so the house comes furnished. Most of our stuff will have to be stored until we find a permanent place to live. We would like to go back to Tucson and we tired to make that happen this time around but the job did not come through, so here were are, wondering what to do with ourselves.

The walls looks so bare and cold without artwork on them.

I will not be displaying any of my art in the new house we are renting since it is only a temporary place until we figure things out. We could decide to stay in Maine as well. I just know that I want my own house again!

All the paintings and other stuff is off the mantle as well. It was fun to decorate this mantle at Christmastime. It was just a pity that the fireplace could not be used. But there is hope ahead. Our new landlord sent me a photo of a robin’s nest beneath the deck he is rebuilding. He texted me wanting to know what to do about it. I know he needs to get the deck rebuilt as he is leaving in two weeks and cannot wait, so I told him he could try to move it safely to a new location. He sent me a photo of the lovely eggs in the nest, then the next thing I know he texts me to say the chicks have hatched! I asked him if he moved the nest and he tells me, no. He is building around it instead!

Robin’s Eggs in Nest at our new rental house!

A sign of Hope!

I was in a bit of a funk about all of this a couple of weeks ago, and couldn’t seem to pull myself out of the doldrums, so I did what I often do, I wrote a poem. You can read it on Kathie’s Poet Tree. It is called The Fog of Summer. Just know that I am feeling better now.

The First Warm Day of Spring

 My First of the Year (FoTY) Northern Flicker in my yard 4-3-15

I can tell spring migration has begun. My list of species seen this year has jumped from 70 at the end of March to 78 in just three days! On Friday we had our first warm day of spring with temperatures rising to nearly 60 degrees in the afternoon! Before I even left home for my Physical Therapy appointment I added a Yellow-bellied sapsucker and Northern Flicker to my yard and year lists. While I missed getting a photo of the sapsucker, which flew in, landed on a tree trunk and was gone, I was ready for the northern flickers when they flew in.

 Northern Flicker 4-3-15 Mere Point Cottage

While I managed to get a picture of one of the flickers on the ground, I missed getting them both in the same frame. I was so disappointed that I would have to spend a good part of the day inside, what with PT in the morning, and another doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. However, as I was heading out the door I got a call from my other doctor to reschedule my afternoon appointment! I was now free for the rest of the day! Yeah!

My FoTY Ring-necked Duck pair at Sawyer Park in Brunswick 4-3-15

There were so many birds in and around the parking lot of the building where I have my physical therapy that I stayed there and counted birds for awhile before moving on to Sawyer Park. Sawyer Park is on the Bath Road in Brunswick and all winter it has been gated shut, so when I decided to head to Bath to count birds, I was pleased to see the gate open and the road plowed! I quickly turned in and started counting birds. While I encountered a few chickadees and sparrows on the road in, I hit the jackpot when I got to the boat launching site. There in the New Meadows River I spotted a pair of Ring-necked Ducks! I used to see them all the time during the winter in Tucson and Andover, MA, but I had not seen that species here since June 6, 1999 when we lived in Presque Isle!

Across the river the melting snow formed ice sculptures along the rocky banks. On this side of the river I am in Cumberland County, but that side is in West Bath and it is part of Sagadahoc County!

 

 I love the blue I can see in this chunk of ice. Soon it will all be melted and gone. I will not be sorry!

 

 I found many more duck species out here in the water, including buffleheads, mergansers, and black ducks, along with a few gulls.

 This is the view looking east towards the sea.

 Ice chunks in the New Meadows River

After leaving Sawyer park, I headed up top Bath, Maine to count birds at the Bath-South End Launch Facility. It was so nice to be able to stand on the banks of the river without having to wear gloves! Once again there were ducks in the river.

 I saw Common Mergansers swim past me.

Later some red-breasted merganser drakes all paddled by.

Farther downriver I counted 3 double-crested cormorants sunning and preening beneath someone’s private dock, but the funniest thing was to watch the mallards and black ducks floating down the river on an ice floe! They didn’t even look at me as they drifted by on their icy canoe!

2 mallard drakes (left), American Black Duck (middle), female mallard (right)

 

But, I was even more surprised when this Eastern Phoebe showed up!

I kept looking for an osprey to fly over. Everyone in Maine is waiting to see them return. So far I had not seen any. Most of the birders on the Maine Birds Facebook group had not either. I had a pair of adult Bald Eagles fly over, and later an immature flew by even closer!

 Immature Bald Eagle at Bath South End Launch Facility 4-3-15

After awhile I decided it was time to move on. It was my intention to head for the North End Launch Facility (those are the official names on the signs) but as I was driving north on Washington Street in Bath I decided to pull into the parking lot of the dog park. I had seen and then heard about this place but never stopped to investigate since it is just north of the south boat launch. It turned out to be a lucky thing that I did. Though it is only a short distance up the road from the south boat launch, I saw different birds here than I did down there. I discovered it has a wonderful cement pier hanging out over the water where one can watch the birds or boats. There is a good view of Bath Iron Works and the bridge over the Kennebec River. The one drawback is the dogs. It is an off-leash dog park so there were lots of dogs and kids and people walking and running around. Everyone was very nice and it was such a nice day that everyone wanted to be outside just like me. I really like dogs. But having them around is not conducive to birding. However, I managed to see a few species anyways, and I did get to pet an English Setter puppy! I was just heading back to my car after talking to a nice lady about her dog and birds and birding. I had just told her how I was waiting to see my first osprey of the year, but so far no one has seen any, when lo, and behold! Look what came sailing in overhead!

 My First of the Year osprey landed right on the huge stadium light pole!

 Then, it just watched all of us puny humans below!

Finally I headed to the North End Launch Facility! By then I was very hungry! I had not eaten before I left home in the morning, and I had not stopped anywhere to get lunch. I was too busy birding! I found every last granola bar in my car and consumed them while I was at the south boat launch, but I would not be deterred! I hurried north to the boat launch hoping to maybe catch a straggling glaucous or Iceland gull, but no luck. While I saw a couple more Bald Eagles and scads of ringbills, herring, and Great Black-backed gulls, I never saw anything else.

Herring Gulls and a Great Black-backed Gull in the Kennebec River.

I could feel the temperature starting to drop, and my tummy starting to growl, so I did not stay long. There were hundreds of gulls out on an ice-covered island in the middle of the river when suddenly they all took wing! I  immediately started looking for an eagle because it seems they always do this when I am here, but I saw nothing in the sky. But then I looked down at the empty island and saw a large, brown raptor. It looked a like an immature bald eagle to me, but later I read an eBird report from the same day where someone thought they saw a Golden Eagle! Could this be it?

The bird was so distant that even with my 300 mm zoom I could not get vey good pictures. If it had taken wing I might have stood a better chance of identifying it, but it stayed on that ice the rest of the time I was there. It was almost sunset by the time I got home. I had been outside all day! I was so tired and so hungry and so happy! My sweet happy made us sloppy joes for supper, so I went inside to eat, but on my way I counted the evening birds in my yard and later went outside to listen to the peenting of woodcocks in their annual springtime courtship display! I can’t get enough of the birds!

Below are the links to the my eBird Lists for this day and the poem I wrote about the first warm day of spring:

• At Last—poem
• Mere Point Cottage 4-3-15 eBird checklist
• 430 Bath Road checklist
• Sawyer Park checklist
• Bath-South End Launch Facility checklist
• Bath South Dog Park checklist
• Bath North End Launch Facility checklist
• Mere Point Cottage evening checklist
• Kathie’s Poet Tree—it’s National Poetry Writing Month and I am trying to write 30 poems in 30 days!

 

 Ducks on ice in the Kennebec River, Bath, Maine 4-3-15

To Reach for the Sky

What joy it is to reach for the sky

Arms open wide

to receive all there is,

or to celebrate

and cheer

With elation.

These arms of mine

So taken for granted

Are essential things

I use them every day—in so many ways;

to hug, to reach, to grasp,

to perform essential tasks!

How wondrously and marvelously made we are,

Birthed into this world, perfectly formed,

We crawl and walk and run through life

Arms outstretched and open wide

As if we were always born to fly.

By Kathie Adams Brown (March 15, 2015)

Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw in Arizona, 2-22-2008

Turkey Vulture, Yuma, AZ 11-22-2012

Osprey, Falmouth, ME 8-7-2012

Canada Goose Andover, MA 10-13-2010

Northern Harrier, Bosque del Apache, NM 11-5-2012

Mountain Bluebird, Three Points, AZ 10-31-2009

• Kathie’s Poet Tree 

Notes from my Nest: It’s a Gray Day in Maine

 I photographed these Ring-billed Gulls just about a year ago at Wharton point in Maine shortly after we moved here. My Birding is Fun blogpost is up with photos of some of the

Spring Birds in Maine

So far the only “spring birds” I have seen are starlings in the yard!

 Meanwhile, this gray and dreary day has made me pensive, and so I wrote a poem which is also posted on Kathie’s Poet Tree:

Gray Day

Looking out the window panes

On a gray landscape;

Gray squirrels playing on gray tree trunks,

Gray sky waiting

Steel clouds billow and flatten

Dove skies bleed

Drops of liquid silver

Dull earth waits for water it cannot absorb

Gray birds sing in wet trees

Late winter rain turns gently to snow

And paints the world in white despair again.

Kathie Adams Brown (March 14, 2015)

Savannah Sparrow

 Savannah Sparrow 4-14-14

On April 14 I had my first Savannah Sparrow in the yard. It showed up at the edge of the driveway underneath the spruce tree where I throw a cheap mixed seed on the ground every morning. I have seen it almost every day since then. You can tell it is a Savannah Sparrow and not a Song Sparrow by the fine streaks on its breast and yellow lores on its head. This little bird was not shy and hopped right out into the open where I sat at my outdoor table drinking tea and watching birds. I never thought I would have a Savannah Sparrow as a yard bird!

Many of the streaky sparrows have streaks that gather into a central breast spot, including Song Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Fox Sparrow, so you must look beyond the central beast spot for other clues to identification. Only Savannah has these yellow lores. The lores are the feathered area between the eyes and the beak. However, just to keep things tricky, there is a large-billed sub-species with little to no yellow on its head! Yeah, sparrow I.D. is definitely a challenge, but I sure enjoy these birds!

 

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. I regret that I was not able to participate like I did last year but I did write and post a few poems. Some were written long ago but a couple are new poems and today’s poem I wrote just today. So, if you are interested, just click on the link and come on over to

Kathie’s Poet Tree!

Florida Days

 The House in Cape Coral, FL 3-7-2014

It’s been a month since my return from my visit to Cape Coral, Florida. Already those sunny days have faded into a blur of memories. This was my brother’s house. He signed a contract on it the night before we left and sold it 2 weeks later. I will never be able to visit him here again.

From the first day I arrived I was surprised to see Loggerhead Shrikes in his yard. They were there everyday until the day I left, yet another new Florida bird for me.

So many mornings I sat by the pool drinking my tea while watching and listening to birds. Several pairs of mockingbirds called and sang and fought over his backyard. Mom loved to hear them singing in the mornings. Grackles, starlings, and catbirds were seen and heard in his yard. Palm Warbler’s flitted to the ground wagging their tails, then jumped back up to the bushes. Almost every day a Northern Cardinal brightened the greenery of the backyard while catbirds mewed from deep inside the bushes.

I walked the streets of this Cape Coral Neighborhood counting birds for 14 days.

In those 14 days I counted 46 species on those streets!

I discovered that while lots of people count lots of birds at all the eBird Hotspots in Florida, very few people do backyard bird counts or neighborhood counts. I like to think that perhaps I contributed some important data and filled in a few blanks outside the birding hotspots.

Everyday I was there I added at least one new species to the neighborhood list, but I must say I was surprised when on our last full day in Florida this bird showed up on the front lawn. My heart skipped a beat hoping against hope that my eyes were not deceiving me. Could it really be…

…a Common Ground-dove!

The picture is a bit blurry because I had to take it through double pane windows, but still, you can see the black-tipped red bill and the shorter tail and shorter neck of this bird. While the plumage is similar to a Mourning Dove, the body shape and tail are quite different as well as the bill, and when this dove flew, I saw the rufous-colored underwings which are absent on a Mourning Dove.

My, how the days did fly, and so did I.

 

Mom and I took wing on March 7th. We arrived back in Connecticut on the 8th.

Gus picked us up at the train station in New London, CT and then we dropped Mom off at her house and drove all the way home to Maine that night. It wasn’t long before we were hit with snow, but now it is finally starting to melt.

Since my return I am not trying to hide…

I’m just trying to get used to living near the ocean and taking in all there is to see!

New birds are arriving daily as the snow continues to melt and migration gets into full swing! I find it so amazing to have woodland birds and sea birds on the same bird count! Today I added Common Eider, Great Black-backed Gull and Brown-headed Cowbird to my Mere Point Cottage Yard list, which now stands at 40 species (You can see the complete list in the sidebar)! There are so many birds in my yard and I am so full of wonder that I find it hard to focus or get anything else done. I’m just relaxing and counting birds!

Herring Gull on Bailey Island 3-16-14

Since April is National Poetry Month and I am Celebrating with poems on Birding is Fun and Kathie’s Poet Tree! Pop on over and see what’s happening!